smiles

It never fails. I am always smiling after hanging out with the girls at the Reagan Bible study Friday nights and the reasons are sometimes different.

When I first went to the Bible study, it was on one of their pretty intense nights. There was a lot of discussion on the issues and struggles they are going through or have gone through. It was a lot of talking them through decisions they were in the process of making. Most of it is stuff I've never had to deal with. I never encountered some of the circumstances that these girls live in. If you base their age on their experiences, they are extremely mature. I walked away that first night totally blessed by their honesty, their realness, and their ways of just being...raw. They just seemed so much older than 14, 15, or 16.

But as I continued to be around them, I noticed that they are still kids. They may deal with grown up situations, but that doesn't mean they aren't teenagers. It doesn't mean they can't act like kids. These same girls find intense humor in doing silly, kid things like sticking marshmallows up their noses while their friends whip out their phones to take a picture.

That made me smile. It still makes me smile.

There is still an innocence in these girls. They won't let their circumstances take away from the joy in being a teen.

Last night, we took the girls to Ebenezer church in St. John's to help fold all the clothes that had been donated for the people who lost their homes in the apartment complex fire. We walk into the room where they had mounds and mounds of donated clothes to Mexican Christian hip hop music BLARING and these girls, not even missing a beat, just start gettin down with their bad selves. And let me just say, these girls can bust a move!

It made me smile. =)

So, we spent about an hour last night folding and sorting clothes all while they kept their groove on. Now you tell me what teenage girls willingly spend their time with grown ups on a FRIDAY night to help fold clothes?! God loves these girls and He's doing something crazy in their lives and I'm so blessed to have them in my life.